FlightWatch - 2018, Volume 4

FALL 2018

from the a publication of Mission Aviation Fellowship

Dear friend, As I’ve moved into the role of president and CEO of MAF, I’ve found myself pondering the importance of unity and the role it plays in sharing the gospel.

Jesus prays in John 17 that His followers would be one—in the same way He and the Father are one—so the world would see a clear picture of the love the Son and the Father share, and know the salvation He provided through Christ.

In this edition of FlightWatch, you will see great examples of how hope arises when we work together as one. You’ll read of two men whose lives have been intertwined since boyhood, playing side-by-side in a remote village of Papua. They are now impacting their world—supporting each other in ministry.

You’ll read about new airstrips being built around the world that only come to fruition through the collective effort of many.

MAF strives to bring hope to those we serve—and can do so only if people like you join us in that effort. May this relationship we share be a great example of unity—the world is watching, and it matters!

In closing, I’d like to express my deepest gratitude to those of you who have reached out to encourage our family as I’ve begun this new role at MAF, and transitioned to our new life in the States. You have been a blessing to us!

Serving Together,

The stories within FlightWatch are highlights of MAF’s ministry. Some days our missionaries get to see and experience the amazing things our Lord is doing. Other days are spent quietly and diligently serving the Lord through routine flights, maintenance work, and simply living among others in foreign countries. We believe that God works through all areas of service and at times blesses us with extraordinary glimpses of His work.

Director of Marketing: Tracey Werre Managing Editor: Chris Burgess Production Manager: Micki Blair Graphic Designer: Clayton Borah Writers/Resourcing: Jennifer Wolf Chris Burgess Every gift you send, every prayer you offer for MAF, helps change lives through aviation and technology. We enjoy hearing from you! Please send comments and questions to MAF-US@maf.org.

MAF PO Box 47 Nampa, ID 83653-0047 208-498-0800 1-800-FLYS-MAF (359-7623) maf.org

MAF maintains the highest standards of financial accountability and public disclosure to donors, the government, and the world at large. MAF is a member of ... Accord™ (formerly AERDO) • CSC Christian Service Charities • ECFA Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability • IAMA International Association of Missionary Aviation • Missio Nexus.

All Scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 2010 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

David Holsten President and CEO

Correction: The last edition of FlightWatch said that John and Cora Lou Miller have been with MAF since 1973. They were accepted in 1971.

On the Cover: Children in Wayuzentsa, Ecuador.

Photo by Mark & Kelly Hewes.

Get Connected:

The Gift of Hope MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF ISOLATED PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON!

How do you give hope?

Can you giftwrap it? Do you use tissue paper? Tie ribbons over glitter wrapping? Does it fit in a stocking or under the tree?

We believe the gift of hope looks like giving an isolated person access to food—to medical care, to education, to Bibles in their language, to relief in the wake of a disaster, to the hope of a better future—and to the love of Jesus Christ.

Hope looks like the Son of Man born in a manger—and it looks like His followers sharing His message of hope throughout the world.

Give the gift of Hope this Christmas season!

This Christmas season you can give the gift of hope to isolated people through MAF.

Share the love of Christ with isolated people through a year-end gift to MAF.

Give online at

maf.org

or return the enclosed envelope with your gift.

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BY CHRIS BURGESS

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A crowd gathers when MAF lands for an airstrip inspection at Ntondo, DRC. Photo by Nick Frey

ometimes change happens gradually. Bible translations take years. Breaking the stronghold of spiritual oppression can take generations.

But there are times when transformation can be seen immediately.

Such is the case when an MAF airplane is finally able to touch down on a new airstrip.

One day a village is totally cut off from the outside world, the next— medical care, education, Bibles, and the hope of the gospel are within reach.

Around the world, MAF works with partners and isolated people to open and maintain airstrips so that transformation can happen in remote places.

Here are just a few of the many new airstrips being completed.

Itende, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) When the Fulmers, a Dutch couple, both doctors, along with their

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children, moved from Nyankunde to the village of Itende to serve at a mission hospital, they needed a way for MAF to reach them—to receive supplies, medevac flights, and an evacuation option for the family in case of tribal fighting.

Itende’s existing airstrip contained buried mines from wars that had ravaged the region. The only thing to be done was to build a new airstrip.

The MAF team in eastern DRC arranged to get a new airstrip cut out of the forest.

After much work the airstrip is nearing completion and soon MAF airplanes will be able to reach Itende and support the lifesaving work the Fulmers are doing there.

ridge,” said Daniel Perez, an MAF pilot, “which makes for spectacular views, but tricky winds blow across it later on in the day.”

This airstrip is a 20-minute flight from the town of Wamena, crossing some of the most rugged terrain on the island with jagged peaks topping 14,000 feet.

“There has been significant persecution of the church in

Kwegono, Papua Construction began on the Kwegono airstrip high in the mountains of Papua seven years ago.

“They had to basically flatten a

First operational flight to Kwegono.

Photo by Kees Janse

this area and we have been in conversation with one of the local church denominations who have expressed a great desire for ministry

here,” said Daniel. “We are excited to be partnering with them to encourage these persecuted people.”

Daniel and Kees Janse, the MAF chief pilot in Papua, made the first MAF landing at Kwegono, officially opening the airstrip in March of this year.

Micaune, Mozambique The trek into Micaune is rough.

The only “road” is just open during the six-month dry season—but even then, making it to your destination is not guaranteed. Public transportation—a combination of boats, ferries, and 4x4 vehicles—is unreliable at best.

Bible translators expressed the need for a working airstrip there— which would open the doors for these missionaries and their families, both with young children, to move to this area knowing they could be evacuated in case of a medical emergency.

When MAF pilot Grady Nace accompanied one of the Bible translators to visit Micaune, he found that the only existing airstrip was in poor shape.

“It was an old colonial airstrip that had been abandoned years before,” said Grady. “The regulo (local traditional leader) said he thinks it has been around 50 years since an airplane has landed there.”

The airstrip was overgrown with trees, bushes, and huge termite mounds, and had been rutted up by a

large herd of cattle that grazed on it.

“We hired around 200 local people to clear the strip using only handheld tools—chopping down and digging out trees, excavating termite mounds,” said Grady. “All in all, the local people worked really hard and seemed to take ownership of the airstrip.”

This airstrip will allow MAF to support these missionaries and their Bible translation work, along with medical needs that might arise.

the safety and conditions, lots of people came out and were jumping

La Source, Haiti

up and down with excitement,” said David Harms.

The team in Haiti is waiting for a few adjustments to be made on the airstrip and for final approval by aviation authorities. They hope it will be operational by early 2019.

“I sense God’s heart for this community and am eager to watch Him work in ways only He can,” added Dave Simon.

Getting to the village of La Source (pronounced “La Suess”) was quite the journey from the capital city of Port-au-Prince before the airstrip was built—hours on choppy seas, followed by hours on an ATV (or longer by a bigger vehicle.)

But that is about to change.

“We are so excited to report that First Baptist Church in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, partnered with the local people and have nearly completed construction on an airstrip in La Source,” said MAF pilot David Harms.

MAF will be able to deliver help in half an hour.

“The pastor we are working with said many in the community have not been able to visit a doctor for several years,” said Dave Simon, another MAF pilot in Haiti who surveyed the airstrip after traveling there via an ATV. “I am very hopeful for the potential of this airstrip.”

It’s not just MAF staff who are excited about reaching La Source—local pastors, World Vision, and the villagers themselves are so thankful for the new airstrip.

“As our pilot flew out to check

Hard at work on the La Source airstrip.

Photo by Carl Harris

Hope Arrives These airstrips are just a handful of many around the world on which MAF airplanes touch down. They’re more than just a patch of grass or dirt carved out of a forest or mountainside. They become the doors of hope flung open as Christ’s love pours into these communities.

Without the support of people like you, these airstrips and MAF staff’s ability to land on them would not be possible. Your support of MAF is bringing immediate and lasting hope to isolated people around the world.

Villagers work on clearing the Micaune airstrip.

Photo by Grady Nace

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People like you raised $89,000 to cover 2,453 jerry cans —or 13,000 gallons— of fuel for MAF airplanes!

Here’s a glimpse of what you made possible throughout the summer months:

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n a remote mountain village in Lesotho, a mother had passed away after giving birth and there was no formula for the baby. The next morning, when an MAF pilot learned of it at one of his stops, he got his teammates and the Lesotho Flying Doctor Service involved in a plan. And on his last flight of the day, he was able to deliver the precious cargo.

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n Haiti, MAF did three separate flights in one day for Haitian Christian Outreach. Four summer interns and a short-term mission team of 14 needed to get to Port-au-Prince for their flight home to the States. Civil unrest was blocking roads and making travel by land dangerous.

n Papua, Indonesia, three plane loads of pastors and church leaders landed in the remote mountain village of Mouyeba for the dedication, and celebration, of the first-ever New Testament in the Moskana language.

n multiple locations, MAF routinely flies students to school or brings teachers to and from remote village schools so children can receive an education.

THANK YOU FOR BRINGING HOPE TO ISOLATED PEOPLE THROUGH MAF! 6

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TWO LIVES ONE MISSION

AN INDONESIAN BOY AND

Lush, green mountain tops peek through an early morning mist in the highlands of Papua, Indonesia. The fog covers an unused airstrip in one community—Pass Valley. MAF’s services are no longer needed there as a road now leads to the village.

A DUTCH MISSIONARY KID GROW UP AND FIND THAT THEIR LIVES—AND MINISTRIES— INTERSECT ONCE AGAIN.

By Jennifer Wolf

The grass airstrip remains untouched, empty, a monument of sorts. The villagers won’t build on it because that is how the gospel came to them back in the 1960s.

MAF had performed air drops before the airstrip was built, and brought in food, building materials, medicine, and other supplies so that missionaries with the Netherlands Reformed Congregation (NRC) could live there and share the love of Jesus—build a church, start primary schools, and reach neighboring villages with the gospel.

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Kees Janse flies Pastor Peres (in the co-pilot’s seat) and a team of pastors to Nipsan. Photo by Kees Janse

MAF flights were a lifeline to the community. Because Pass Valley was completely cut off, MAF visited multiple times a week, bringing rice, cooking items, and other essentials that the people didn’t have in their village.

It was here that Kees Janse (pronounced “Case Yans-a”) grew up as a missionary kid—his parents were NRC missionaries. It was here that Kees and his friend, Peres Nekwek, spent many hours together assembling Legos, flying kites at the airstrip, hiking, or playing in the river.

Kees came to know Jesus when he was 13 and felt he would either be a pastor or an MAF pilot one day.

EARLY IMPRESSIONS Peres remembers playing “airplane” as a boy with Kees and other friends. He knew it was Kees’ dream to be a pilot—he always pretended to be one. Peres and other friends were the passengers or the co-pilot. They built carts, imaginary airplanes, which they “flew” down the steep airstrip.

Peres’ father was introduced to Christ as a young man by

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one of the early NRC missionaries. Because of this, Peres grew up in a Christian household and attended the local mission school.

Peres was familiar with MAF as a child, but his first MAF flight wasn’t until after high school, when he went to Wamena to further his education and lived in a dorm for students who came from interior villages. The MAF missionaries in Wamena had a big influence on Peres’ life. Mike Meeuwse, a former helicopter pilot, and others like him, led devotions in the evenings. The guidance and encouragement Peres received had an impact on him— and God gave him the desire to become a pastor. He went to seminary and then on to Java to get his doctorate in theology.

In the meantime, Kees left Papua to pursue a degree in aeronautical engineering. Years later their lives would cross again.

FULL CIRCLE It’s Sunday morning in the city of Wamena and Kees and

Janse Family. Photo by Mark & Kelly Hewes

Nekwek Family. Photo by Kees Janse (Kees’ father)

“It was hard to choose [between being a pastor or a pilot],” said Kees. “But I felt the Lord wanted me to use my experience of growing up here in serving Him within MAF.”

Pass Valley Airstrip. Photo by Kees Janse

his wife, Elsbeth, and their four children are sitting on wooden pews in a packed church, listening to Pastor Peres’ sermon.

“He’s a very gifted Bible teacher,” says Kees. “There’s such a hunger out there for the Word, and such an enormous lack of good teachers … Peres is really focused on bringing the Word of God into people’s lives, and I’m thankful for that.”

The church is filled with young people, many of whom come out from the villages and stay in town, for education or work. So Pastor Peres continues to plant the seeds of faith that started in Pass Valley. And during the week he runs a seminary in town. So he’s training up future church leaders as well.

On a recent peace-keeping mission to Nipsan, a spiritually dark area with a long history of conflict, Kees flew in a group of pastors from surrounding villages of Bomela, Langda, and Pass Valley. Pastor Peres was part of the group, and he was in the co-pilot’s seat once again.

Today many isolated villages are in the same position that Pass Valley was back in the ’60s, waiting for MAF service or still in the grips of the enemy. Several new airstrips have opened in recent months, paving the way for new ministry opportunities.

“Change is happening in Papua—it’s not a static thing— and we’re growing with it,” said Kees. “We don’t need to be in Pass Valley anymore; I’m happy to pull out when I see that people like Pastor Peres are helping serve there.

So, where can we go now?”

The story of how God is working in Papua is woven into the friendship of Peres and Kees. Their chapter begins with a wooden cart “airplane” on a grass airstrip in a remote village—it’s one thread in a bigger story that began long ago in a wooden manger in a remote town called Bethlehem.

Thank you for your part in this story through your support of MAF.

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Photo by Shelley Pimentel

JACOB AND AUDREY MILLER

by Jennifer Wolf

When life’s detours got in the way of pursuing their dream of joining MAF, Jacob and Audrey Miller found that God had been preparing them for that very thing.

Jacob knew he wanted to be an MAF pilot; Audrey wanted to serve in Africa. But then, life happened— starting a family, paying the bills, steady jobs, the illness and death of a parent—and not having an A&P (airframe and powerplant) license seemed to keep the door closed to MAF. A bookkeeping job unexpectedly introduced Jacob to IT (information technology). He discovered he was good at figuring out technical things.

After several different IT jobs, he started his own IT consulting firm.

Then five years ago, Jacob brought up MAF again, and the couple started praying about it. That’s when Audrey found a list of “30 before 30” goals she had written. On it were things

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like taking biblical studies classes and going to Africa (she has a music degree and sang in an African choir in college).

One of the requirements for joining MAF is 12 college-level credits of Bible classes. She’ll be able to check that off her list. And now the Millers are preparing to serve with MAF in Mozambique (in Africa). Check.

Turns out Jacob has the perfect combination of skills. He’ll be able to serve as an MAF pilot and IT specialist.

“What it told me is God knew our hearts and he held on to those things that we had shelved for so long,” said Audrey.

“We also wanted to be sure the dreams were not idols in and of themselves,” added Jacob. “Because they can become more important than the reason why you’re doing something. If I was told tomorrow that I can’t fly anymore, I’d still want

to go and serve wherever the Lord leads me.”

Now the Millers, and their three children, are in the “MAF pre-fielder” stage—visiting churches around the U.S., trying to build their ministry partnership team. They’re learning a lot in the process.

“I’m having to ask God, ‘Do I trust you with this?’ ” said Audrey.

“We realize this is all in God’s hands,” said Jacob. “It’s impossible for us to go without people supporting our ministry. We just pray that people will ask God if He might be leading them to join our team.”

“They get to be a part of our story,” added Audrey. “And honestly, it’s not our story, it’s what God is doing.”

Is God calling you to take part in the Miller’s story in Mozambique? To find out more or to join their team, visit maf.org/miller.

SQUASHING BUGS In computer technology, a bug is a coding error in a program that causes it to produce an unexpected result.

Bugs can be a problem anywhere—but in the places MAF serves, they can be, well, truly unexpected.

John Gorenflo, an MAF IT specialist noticed some issues with a Metro Area Network (MAN) link in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

“The signal gradually got worse and worse … then finally quit working,” said John. “When I went to check on it, I found that tiny sweat bees had built a hive.

“Unfortunately, this device, like most electronics, didn’t like conductive things like honey on its circuit board.”

Bugs don’t just plague MAF Tech Resources in Africa.

MAF’s Wilbert Rietveld had a problem in Indonesia as well. “One of the antennas wasn’t working and the usual fix didn’t work.”

When they opened the box covering the antennas, fire ants came spilling out! They had built a nest in the mounting box. Thankfully they were able to get it cleaned up and back online.

And it’s not just insects … Brent Palmer, an MAF IT specialist, got a furry surprise in Sentani, Papua, Indonesia, when he opened a computer that had stopped working.

“I found a mouse inside the computer case that had eaten many of the wires!” said Brent. “It turns out the insulation on the wires is sometimes made of animal fat and is tasty.”

Fire ants, sweat bees, the occasional rhinoceros beetle … no bug—digital or otherwise—will stop MAF Tech Resources from sharing the love of Christ with isolated people.

Lift up the people of Lombok, Indonesia, who lost loved ones or were injured or displaced by a 7.0 earthquake in August.

People in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are dealing with an Ebola outbreak which is in an area of active conflict. Pray for those affected, for the safety of medical NGOs, and for containment.

Pray for MAF staff and their families who serve in restrictedaccess countries around the world. May the Lord give them strength, resilience, and increased faith as they minister in difficult places.

Samaite and his wife, Ruta, are the first Pygmy couple to graduate from the Bible school in Nyankunde. In July MAF flew them to a location close to their village in the Ituri forest, where they will share God’s Word with their own people, in their own language.

Please pray for them.

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

— Ephesians 6:18

CRYPTOCURRENCY FOR MISSIONS? Did you know you can donate BitCoin, Ethereum, or other cryptocurrencies to MAF? We are now set up to accept these types of gifts. If you want to find out more about how you can give in this new and unique way, email plannedgiving@maf.org for instructions on how to complete a transaction with cryptocurrency.

TRAINING UP INTERNATIONAL STAFF Thoahlane Khalala (TK for short) from MAF Lesotho spent two months at MAF headquarters this summer to attend MAF’s maintenance standardization. TK started working for MAF when he was 19. He helped out in the hangar and eventually learned aircraft maintenance onthe-job. While TK was in Nampa he got to reconnect with some of his old friends who are now serving stateside. Roger Clark, an MAF maintenance specialist, says, “TK and I worked side-by-side every day for 10 years in Lesotho. He was my ‘goto’ guy for almost anything. Having him working here at HQ, as comechanics, and seeing him grow by leaps and bounds in his knowledge and wisdom has been really great!”

Now that TK’s been trained, he can sign off on projects in Lesotho, which will help the team immensely.

LEAVING NEPAL After three years in Nepal, it is no longer possible for MAF to remain in the country. While the needs there are still great, we are grateful for those who invested in MAF’s work there. MAF provided crucial flight coordination services for 83 different organizations following the 2015 earthquakes, and continued to support vital earthquake reconstruction and health and education projects, as well as working to build aviation safety. Through your support, MAF’s partners have been able to bring help to the people of Nepal.

SEASONS GIFTINGS With the Christmas season upon us, don’t forget to visit MAF’s online gift shop at store.maf.org. There you’ll find fair trade crafts, hand-made by artisans MAF staff have discovered in the countries where we serve.

You’ll also find MAF-branded t-shirts, mugs, acrylic tumblers, aviator bears, MAF airplane models and more— something for everyone on your list!